What Inspires American Workers Most?

American workers may be down, but we're not out. A recent Inspiration Index survey found that U.S. employees continue to be inspired -- on average we give ourselves an inspiration rating of 66 on a 1 to 100 scale. And who inspires us most? Our dear old moms ... and sisters.

The survey was taken by Don Francisco's Coffee, which probably hoped to find that coffee and the caffeine it contains would rank high as a source of inspiration. The survey did indeed find that 40 percent of the people surveyed cited coffee breaks as inspiring moments, but other activities ranked substantially higher.

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Relaxing alone was ranked as an inspiring moment by 78 percent of those surveyed, walking or exercising was cited by 73 percent, and hanging out with family and friends was third, with 66 percent saying the activity is relaxing. Believe it or not, even driving beat out the coffee breaks as an inspiring activity, with 56 percent saying that they get inspiration while in their cars.

And when Don Francisco's asked participants to cite a source of inspiration? Coffee missed out yet again! Immediate family members, especially mothers and daughters, topped the list. Break it down by profession, and teachers were found to be the most inspiring. Professional athletes came in a distant second, celebrities were third, and politicians dragged behind in the fourth position. However, President Barack Obama was the one public figure most frequently named as a source of inspiration.

The Don Francisco researchers were able to get some positive coffee stats out of the survey: four out of 10 would rather give up alcoholic beverages, chocolate and going to the movies than lay off their coffee. But we do have our limits. The things that American workers are least likely to give up for coffee? Our cars, jobs and sex. They didn't mention if there was even one respondent who picked coffee over any of those three things.

The results of the survey are interesting, but are they worthwhile for the coffee purveyor? Leonor Gavina-Valls, vice president of marketing at F. Gavina & Sons Inc., spins it like this: "With this survey, we hope to gain better insight into what motivates and inspires Americans, and in doing so, continue to evolve our brand so that it always represents those ideals." Now there's a smart employee.